Low bid on Tulsa International runway project saves $13 million
Aug. 10-- An intricate financing plan leveraging revenue bonds, federal grants and local matching funds to compress multiyear main runway reconstruction projects into one year at Tulsa International Airport had a $13 million payoff Thursday for the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust.
TAIT board members awarded low-bidder Interstate Highway Construction of Eagleton, Colo., a $15.65 million contract for the reconstruction of about 5,000 feet of the main 10,000-foot north-south runway at Tulsa International. Interstate's bid was about $13 million less than the engineer's estimate for the project, officials said.
The runway project's third phase, which will begin in January and is scheduled for completion in mid-May, will reconstruct more than four times the pavement involved in the first two 1,200-foot projects, said Jeff Hough, deputy airports director of engineering and facilities.
"The whole idea was to have a bigger project, attract wider bids, more competition," Hough said. "We're getting this (project) close to half price compared with the first two phases."
In the first two, $7 million 1,200-foot projects, construction costs were $5,600 per lineal foot, Hough said, compared with Interstate's bid of $2,900 per lineal foot.
Airports Director Jeff Mulder crafted a financing plan to design a larger project after meeting with Federal Aviation Administration officials over the last two years.
"The FAA said we needed to bring more money to the table," Mulder said, referring to annual FAA grants of between $4 million and $5 million that could be used for the runway project. "When we began this effort two years ago, we were presented with a seven- or eight-year project, which would have been terribly disruptive" for airlines, passengers, airport staff and contractors, Mulder said.
TAIT staff and trustees reached agreement with Compass Mortgage Corp. of Claremore for the issue and sale of $14.6 million in revenue bonds to be repaid with $4.87 million in FAA airport improvement grants expected in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The bond proceeds will be paired with $13.67 million in local funds on hand, $3 million in funding from the Oklahoma Air National Guard and local matching money to reconstruct 5,000 feet to 6,400 feet in the third phase of the runway project, Hough said. The $3 million in funding from the Oklahoma Air National Guard has not been appropriated to date, officials said.
In conjunction with the runway bid, the board accepted a pending multiyear FAA grant offer for $25,565,320 for the reconstruction project.
Additionally, trustees accepted a pending FAA grant offer of $360,400 for a main runway safety area project associated with the reconstruction effort.
A $1.48 million construction management contract on the main runway project was awarded to Atkins, North America, Orlando, Fla.
Atkins also was low bidder and was awarded a $344,000 engineering design services contract for the runway.
The board accepted a $1.62 million FAA pending grant offer and a $90,094 pending grant offer from the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission to upgrade airfield guidance signs at Jones Riverside Airport at Jenks.
Trustees awarded three contracts for the Jones Riverside airfield guidance sign project:
--A $1.55 million construction contract was awarded to Bronze Oak LLC, Bixby.
--A $140,500 engineering design contract was awarded to Garver LLC, Tulsa.
--A $104,900 construction management services contract was awarded to Garver LLC.
The board also approved two asbestos abatement contracts.
Environmental Action Inc., Jenks, was awarded an $183,375 contract to remove asbestos in tunnels beneath the passenger terminal at Tulsa International.
A $68,484 contract was awarded to Abatement Systems Inc. of Broken Arrow to remove asbestos in Hangar 10, which is scheduled for demolition this fall on the west side of Tulsa International, officials said.
D.R. Stewart 918-581-8451
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